Female protesters sexually assaulted in Cairo's Tahrir Square

Egyptian women protesting in Cairo's Tahrir Square against sexual harassment were attacked on Saturday by a group of men while several of the women were sexually assaulted, witnesses said.

AFP - A group of men attacked a women's march against sexual harassment in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday and sexually assaulted several of the protesters, witnesses said.

The unknown assailants overwhelmed the march by dozens of women and male supporters and violently assaulted some of the women, the witnesses said. The march had been organised to denounce similar past assaults.

The protest took place amid a larger rally against former dictator Hosni Mubarak's prime minister Ahmed Shafiq, a candidate in next week's presidential election run-off.

Activists and the influential Muslim Brotherhood have staged several large rallies calling for Shafiq's exclusion from the election and to denounce what they say were lenient court verdicts handed down to Mubarak and his security chiefs last week.

But the demonstrations in the protest hub, the epicentre of the revolt that ousted Mubarak last year, have been marred by reports of sexual harrasment and assault against some female protesters.